Hello everyone,

I’ve heard it mentioned that you should try to measure the stability of a program: overall/its chairmanship/its faculty body. However, I’m not sure what kinds of questions to ask to flesh this out during the interview. I’d appreciate any suggestions for how to approach this topic in a sensitive way, and what sorts of things are red flags.

Apologies if this was somewhere else-- wasn’t able to find anything similar.

Thanks for your help

Most of the programs I have visited have more or less directly addressed this in the interview sessions, stating “Rest assured that Dr. Chairman will be here for at least the next 7 years.” It is in their interest to demonstrate stability, and if they don’t seem forthcoming with that sort of info, then I’d question them directly.

Another indicator is small number of faculty, for example if only one surgeon is doing complex spine and they leave then the spine program is essentially over.  If the bulk of faculty are nearing retirement age I would be weary.  Also, if the bulk of the faculty are young, they may be looking to move on soon.  If there are a lot of gaps resident man power because people “left,” I would wonder if the program was stable.

If you have a good relationship with the chair at your home school, I would a meeting to discuss your preferred programs with your chair prior to submitting your rank list.  Neurosurgery is a pretty small family and not much goes on that others in the field don’t know about.  I did that and learned much more than I did by asking questions on the trail.

IMHO, I would use the interviews as more of an opportunity to observe how programs function, rather than being to impetuous in trying to ask “gotcha” questions about a program’s stability or turbulence in the recent past.

I interviewed at a place that is taking two FMGs next year (a PGY1 and a PGY3). Would you consider this a red flag?

rongeurer - 23 January 2009 03:37 PM

I interviewed at a place that is taking two FMGs next year (a PGY1 and a PGY3). Would you consider this a red flag?

i can believe you somehow found about PGY3 spot, but how did you figure out about PGY1 spot in advance? also, mind mentioning the program name here?